Page 4 of Duty Compromised
Academics. Great. Bunch of nerds who’d look at me like hired muscle. Still, it beat sitting around here. With my luck, old Dr. Gifford would have a stroke, and I’d have to do CPR on him.
That would still be more action than I’d seen in the last month.
“When do you need me?”
“Yesterday.” George’s relief was visible. “Thanks, Ty. I know this isn’t exactly exciting work, but I need someone I trust on this.”
I thought about another four weeks of weight restrictions and careful movements. Another four weeks of my mother’s worried looks and my siblings treating me like I might break. Another four weeks of Donovan’s walls and Ben’s careful conversations when he showed up to visit.
“I’ll do it,” I said. “Couple weeks of babysitting nerds? How bad could it be?”
George’s smile was tired but genuine. “That’s what I’m hoping. With everything that’s happened, I just need one thing to be simple.”
Simple. Routine. Boring.
“I’ll do it,” I said again, already mentally packing my gear. Anything was better than being here.
Useless.
Chapter 2
Ty
“You sure you’re up for this?”
The Vertex Dynamics building loomed ahead, all glass and steel, trying its hardest to look important. Two hours from Rocheport to St. Louis wasn’t exactly a scenic drive, but at least I’d had Ben and Jolly for company. From here, they’d be catching a ride to the airport. Ben had another assignment on the East Coast that actually sounded interesting. Unlike mine.
The next two weeks were going to be boring as shit.
“Your shoulder—” Ben continued from the passenger seat, Jolly’s head wedged between us from the back.
“Is fine.” I rolled it for emphasis, ignoring the pull of healing tissue. “Nothing taxing about this job. Stand around, look intimidating, make sure nobody steals the quantum whatever-the-hell.”
Ben shot me a look that said he wasn’t buying it. “Fine. But you know if Ethan and Logan find out you’re taking an active mission without medical clearance, they’re going to lose their shit with you.”
“What active mission? I’m watching a bunch of scientists play with computers. The most dangerous thing that’ll happen is someone spilling coffee on a keyboard.”
“Famous last words.”
Even Jolly gave me a look that said I was a dumbass.
I pulled into the parking structure, noting the security camera placement. The field of view on that old tech left plenty of room for improvement. “George said it was routine. Simple. Boring, even.”
“George also looked like he hadn’t slept in three days.”
Fair point. But sitting around Rocheport for another month wasn’t happening. The wound had thrown me off more than I’d let my family know. More than I’d let anyone at Citadel Solutions know. Six weeks of nothing but my own thoughts and uselessness?
Anything in this building—even utter boredom—would be better than that.
We parked and climbed out, me grabbing my gear bag while Ben opened the door for Jolly. The dog immediately went into work mode, nose to the ground, tail straight. Even off duty, the Malinois couldn’t help scanning for threats.
“Let’s do a walk-through,” I said. “Get a feel for the place before you have to leave.”
The building itself was standard corporate architecture—trying to look cutting-edge but ending up generic. Keycard access at the main entrance, security desk in the lobby. The guard barely looked up from his newspaper as we walked in. Great start.
We did a circuit of the main floor, noting exits, checking sight lines. The elevators required keycard access for the upper floors, which was something, at least. But the stairwells were standard fire exits—locked from the outside but not the inside. Easy enough to prop open if someone had the right help.
“Security’s not terrible,” Ben observed as we headed up to check the other floors. “But it’s not great either.”
